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Telemarketing has been around for decades, and everyone is very familiar with the dinnertime \u201cAre you happy with your long distance service?\u201d phone call. A proven technique for drumming up widespread sales and awareness, telemarketing has become a cultural norm. The evolution of marketing in recent years has marked the emergence of a new term, \u201cinside sales,\u201d that refers to a more focused, prospected and targeted approach to lead development\u2014not just churn. Teleprospecting grew out of inside sales and has now become a first-tier technique used in conjunction with other lead and demand generation efforts to not only commence dialogue but also achieve qualification of new leads that come across any vendor\u2019s radar. Teleprospecting best practices to ensure sales success are now a focal point for any good sales enablement scenario.\nIt is important to differentiate between the goals and definitions of teleprospecting versus telemarketing. The two terms are often used interchangeably. Both are seen as a phone-based sales technique, but in reality the approaches and end goals are vastly different. Telemarketing is a one-shot \u201cspray and pray\u201d tactic that is crafted to cover a vast audience base, using a templated script and with a focus on generating a lead to pass on to sales\u2014but with little consideration of the path of that lead takes once it is passed along. It is a rapid, repetitive and funneled approach.\nWhereas the primary goal of the telemarketer is to quickly resonate with the target audience and close a sale, teleprospecting is about connecting with leads, identifying their \u201cpain points\u201d and qualifying areas of need that the service or product addresses. The teleprospector is tasked with calling a very focused, crafted list of leads that have been pre-identified as market prospects, and spending time to communicate one-to-one to establish a true qualification so the sales team is equipped to take the lead to the next tier of the sales process. This initial communication may start with an introductory script, but unlike the telemarketer who sticks to the tree structure of the finite pitch, the teleprospector quickly moves on to appropriate next-step questions based on the lead\u2019s answers. The idea is to guide the dialogue to a point where the lead realizes a particular service or product is needed.\nLet\u2019s take a look at four key considerations in guiding your teleprospecting reps as they work to establish a successful relationship between qualifying a lead and closing a sale:\n\n\n \tAlign prospecting and sales teams regionally. Companies that are moving toward a large global footprint tend to have sales teams that were fostered based on industry or market segments. When teleprospecting teams come on board to begin qualifying leads in these new areas, these reps may be aligned with sales team members accordingly. This creates a disjointed regional approach, with lead lists spread over dispersed countries. A better practice is to review your global reach and reassign sales teams to regional groupings\u2014and have the teleprospecting reps align accordingly. This will create better cohesion between prospecting and sales, and allow for coordinated approaches in a unified and timely manner. Adaptation to cultural norms and traditions can also be achieved and carried through contiguous efforts between both teams.\n\n\n \tDevelop a pass-back conduit between sales and teleprospectors. Once a lead has been qualified and passed to the sales team\u2019s queue, it should be handled or prioritized according to company policy or quarterly goals. Often a lead may become stale or cold to the sales rep, whether immediately (due to handoff change or lag time) or as an effect of not having been nurtured for some time. In cases like these, passing the lead back to the teleprospecting team to \u201creignite\u201d would be advantageous. The rep had previously developed a relationship with this lead through the prospecting cycle,